F1 News
Toyoharu Tanabe "did not expect to win two races before the summer break"
Honda boss Toyoharu Tanabe did not expect to have won two races so far this season. Honda are still improving and their first season with Red Bull Racing arguably couldn't have gone any better. Tanabe is hoping for another strong performance in front of the home Japanese fans this weekend and that they are even more competitive next season.
"At the start of the year we did not expect that we would win two races before the summer break," Tanabe said to Auto Sport Web. “In the beginning, there was a big gap with the other two teams. To win while you're closing that gap is very different from winning if you're already the fastest."
Red Bull Racing and Honda have struggled after the summer break but will hope that theit new engine will really perform against the impressive Ferrari and MErcedes packages.
"I think Ferrari's position has changed a lot compared to the first half of the season. In Italy, we did take into account that they would be strong. They were, but they were able to hold that. They have tackled their weaknesses and closed the gap on a circuit like Singapore."
Honda can not do anything about Ferrari's improvement apart from trying to improve even further themselves.